Russia launches counterattacks to retake Kursk after incursion stalls

Russia said Wednesday it launched a major counteroffensive to retake large areas of its Kursk region that were seized by Ukrainian forces in the border incursion that began last month.

Russian Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops took back control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, which borders northeastern Ukraine.

“Our situation is good … our units have gone on the offensive. Yesterday and by today [Wednesday], in total, about 10 settlements of the Kursk region were liberated,” Alaudinov, who is also deputy head of the Russian defence ministry’s military-political administration, told Russian state news agency TASS in comments translated by Google.

Ukraine has not commented or confirmed that a Russian counteroffensive has begun but Western defense analysts said Wednesday that geolocated footage and visual evidence confirms counterattacks are taking place, showing Russian troops movements and operations in Kursk.

“Russian forces began counterattacks along the western edge of the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast and reportedly seized several settlements northeast and south of Korenevo on September 10 and 11. The size, scale, and potential prospects of the September 11 Russian counterattacks in Kursk Oblast are unclear and the situation remains fluid,” analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said in analysis Wednesday.

Russian forces may intend to temporarily bisect the Ukrainian salient — a military feature that extends into enemy territory and is surrounded on three sides, such as Ukrainian forces’ thrust into Russia’s Kursk region — “before beginning a more organized and well-equipped effort to push Ukrainian forces out of Russian territory,” the analysts said.

The ISW noted that visual evidence suggested that Russian forces deployed in Kursk were operating in company-sized units of 100-250 soldiers and may be using more combat-experienced units to conduct the counteroffensive. If confirmed, the strategy signals the importance Russia is placing on ending an incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin and exposed weaknesses in Russia’s national security..

Ukrainian forces advanced rapidly at the start of the audacious border raid that began Aug. 6, taking control of almost 1,300 square kilometers (around 500 square miles) of territory since then, and capturing 100 settlements and hundreds of Russian prisoners of war in the process, Ukraine’s army chief said at the end of August. The incursion prompted regional authorities to evacuate 150,000 people living in the region, as well as neighboring Belgorod.

Russia appeared to be stunned by Kyiv’s incursion, initially playing it down before redeploying troops from the eastern front in Ukraine to the Kursk area, but perhaps not as…